How GOP hopes early convention will help 2016 nominee

Carla Marinucci

Published 11:21 am, Tuesday, July 8, 2014

(07-08) 11:19 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Republicans get an edge not only with the party's choice of Cleveland as the site of the party's 2016 nominating convention, but also in their plans to hold the convention in early summer, says Shawn Steel, a former chair of California GOP and a member of the Republican National Committee site selection committee.

The committee announced Tuesday that has picked Cleveland to be the site of the Republican 2016 convention. Steel said Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus is preparing to follow that up with the announcement of the 2016 convention kickoff, likely to be either June 27 or July 18 - exceptionally early dates that Steel said would be "a huge advantage" to the party.

"We learned our battles from the last war" in 2012, when Republicans kicked off their nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 27, Steel said.

The 2012 presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, "had hundreds of millions (in donations) collected - but he couldn't spend a penny till he was nominated," said Steel. So even though the Democrats didn't get their convention started until Sept. 4, President Obama already had a huge advantage, because "there were millions in ads by Obama's team that could not be answered."

Steel said RNC site selection committee members grasped the logic of locating the convention in Democratic city like Cleveland. "No Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without Ohio - and Cleveland is the center of Democratic might in Ohio," he said.

"We had eight quality cities that wanted to host, each with great stories and great community groups, and it wasn't an easy process," the Palos Verdes attorney said. "We got down to Dallas and Cleveland. Dallas is a big Republican city, and they have two big facilities ... but Cleveland really, really wanted the RNC there, and they moved mountains," enticing Republicans with 16 new hotels, great facilities and plenty of space for big GOP rallies, he said.

And it works from a messaging point of view, he said: Cleveland is in the heartland, "strategically located - with 80 percent of the American population within six hours by driving."

There are still contracts to be signed and things to be worked out now that the site selection committee has unanimously accepted Cleveland's proposal, he said. But Steel says he and others are convinced that with the early convention dates, and the right place, the Republicans are well-positioned to give Democrats a run for their money in 2016.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.